In engine driven vessels such as airplanes, helicopters, and the like, cables are exposed to tremendous vibrations that significantly contribute to the cables' wear particularly at their attachment locations. Cable wear in turn is a substantial factor in reducing the overall operational safety of such engine driven vessels. This is of particularly concern for aeronautic vessels that tend to stay in service for several decades. Cable wear is also difficult to monitor, since the cables are commonly stored away making their attachment locations inaccessible for inspection. Therefore, there exists a need for a cable constraining device that provides reduced cable wear. The present invention addresses this need.
Conventional cable constraining devices such as grommets and cable clips commonly employ a rubber like material encompassing the cable's insulation at the attachment location of that cable. The rubber is commonly employed to protect the cable insulation against surrounding sharp edges and/or hard materials that would damage the cable insulation in a short time. Nevertheless, the rubber itself likely rubs against the cable insulation causing both to wear, which eventually results in exposure of conductive cable core. Therefore, there exists a need for a cable constraining device that substantially avoids rubbing and eventual micro sliding between the cable insulation and the contacting portion of the cable constraining device. The present invention addresses also this need.
In engine powered vessels, cable trees have significantly varying cable numbers along individual cable tree branches. Therefore, there exists a need for cable constraining device, that may be economically fabricated in varying dimensions to accommodate for simultaneously clamping a highly diverse number of cables. The present invention addresses also this need. In addition, simultaneous clamping of a large number of cables in a single cable constraining device bears the risk of uneven clamping pressure distributions among the individual cables eventually resulting in excessive pressure on some cables. Therefore, there exists a need for a cable constraining device capable of simultaneously clamping a large number of cables with highly uniform clamping pressure. The present invention addresses also this need.